Forest Service nets $7.01 million auctioning portion of Aspen Ranger District property

The Forest Service netted $7.01 million on Tuesday after auctioning almost a block of its three-acre downtown Aspen campus.

Three buyers divided up five lots on the edge of Aspen’s super-tony West End neighborhood, with one buyer spending $3 million for two lots, another spending $2.86 million for two lots and the third spending $1.15 million for a single parcel.

Tim Estin, a local Aspen broker and author of the Estin Report, believes Forest Service officials likely wanted more than $7.01 million for the parcel. But, Estin said, uncertainties about local approval for development “likely contributed to the discount buyers were able to get.”

The auction stretched to two hours, with the Forest Service apparently prodding bidders to up their bids.
“It seemed the Forest Service really stretched out the auction in order to get as much as they could,” Estin said.

The White River National Forest on Tuesday netted more than $7 million in an auction of part of its Aspen Ranger District property in Aspen. Courtesy of the Forest Service.

The agency’s appraiser said the price was fair market value and the agency’s net “was in the ballpark” of what it was hoping for, said White River supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams.

The cash will help the agency redevelop the remaining two acres of the White River National Forest’s Aspen Ranger District headquarters, with a new visitor’s center and employee housing. Fitzwilliams said the money will also go toward remodeling “some deplorable” administrative and employee housing properties across the White River National Forest. He’s already planning more sales of district office space and employee housing in El Jebel, downtown Eagle and Summit County to help fund improvements to remaining offices and employee housing.

“We have to be more efficient and look at what we can afford to take care of in the future,” he said. “We know for a fact that we can’t take care of everything we’ve had in the past.”

David joined The Denver Post in 1999, his second go-round in the Mile High City. Since then he’s covered a variety of topics – from human services to consumer affairs – most always with an investigative bent. Currently he does investigations and banking.